Statehouse News 2-16-06
9/19/2007
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Snow in Des Moines sure isn’t as fun as snow in Benton County. Talk about a traveling nightmare! The house I’m renting is about five miles from the Capitol and one mile is an eternity when you’re bumper to bumper…45 minutes to go five miles. It’s no wonder that on my drive home, the “Benton County” sign is always a welcome sight. We’re very lucky!
Budget, budget, budget. Not only are your local government officials working on getting their budgets completed, we are too at the state level. I’m on the Administration and Regulation budget committee. It covers the budgets of the State Auditor, the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, the Department of Commerce, the Governor and Lt. Governor’ Office,
the Office of Drug Control Policy, the Department of Human Rights, the Department of Inspection and Appeals, the Secretary of State, the Treasurer of State, the Department of Administrative Services, the Department of Revenue and the Department of Management. With the makeup of this group, you can imagine the variety of topics we discuss. In case you’re wondering, all committee meetings are open to the public. They are very interesting and this particular committee gives you a good background of the agencies running our state government. On Thursday, we finished up the House budget bill for these departments and sent on our $83,756,373 recommendation to the Appropriations Committee.
Reminder: This Saturday’s coffees are in Urbana and Vinton. I hope to see you in Urbana’s Community Room at 10:00 or in Vinton’s Kirkwood Center at 2:00. Please join me for a cup of coffee, some good discussion and to let me know what’s on your mind.
Last week, former State Representative Kyle Hummel stopped in to visit regarding the Braille School. Rep. Hummel deserves the credit for making sure the Iowa code protects our Braille School from closure without taking the proper steps. He has our gratitude.
Reminder#2: The ICN meeting for general public comments on the possible closure of the Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School will be in Vinton on Feb. 22nd from 5:00 to 7:00. You can attend at the School.
Thanks to the people who stopped in to visit me this week: Bart Upah from Belle Plaine representing SIYAC, Larry Beyer of Marengo representing the Iowa Corn Growers, my good looking husband Ron who came to take me to lunch on Valentine’s Day, Benton County Supervisor Ron Buch representing Iowa Resource and Conservation Development Councils, and Craig Hackbarth and Bret Nelson of Vinton representing Fareway. It’s nice to see people from home!
As always, I’m here for you. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me. My number at the Capitol is 515-281-7622 and my email is dawn.pettengill@legis.state.ia.us.
Sincerely yours,
Dawn
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Iowa House of Representatives
State Representative Dawn Pettengill
STATEHOUSE NEWS -- February 16, 2006
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Penalties for Hit and Run Accidents
More Take-Home Pay
Governor’s TouchPlay Task Force Holds First Meeting
Veterans Affairs Committee Approves Several Bills
Bill Would Crackdown on Hiring Illegal Workers
Committee Approves Charter Magnet School
85 Counties Vote to Use Master Matrix
DOT Announces Public Input Hearing for 2006
Public Hearing on State Standards for K-12 Schools
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